The association between social support and chemotherapy-related toxicity in older patients with cancer

• Published in: Journal of geriatric oncology 2020-03, Vol.11 (2), p.274-279
• Main Authors: Shahrokni, Armin, Sun, Can-Lan, Tew, William P, Mohile, Supriya Gupta, Ma, Huiyan, Owusu, Cynthia, Klepin, Heidi D, Gross, Cary Philip, Lichtman, Stuart M, Gajra, Ajeet, Katheria, Vani, Cohen, Harvey Jay, Hurria, Arti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemotherapy toxicity; Hematology, Oncology, and Palliative Medicine; Internal Medicine; Older adults with cancer; Social support
• ISSN: 1879-4068; 1879-4076
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jgo.2019.08.015

AbstractObjectivesThe goal of this study was to evaluate the relationship between social support (SS) and grade 3–5 chemotherapy-related toxicities among older adults with cancer. MethodsThis is a secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal study of patients aged 65+ with solid cancer which led to the development of a predictive model for grade 3–5 chemotherapy-related toxicity (the Cancer and Aging Research Group [CARG] Chemotherapy Toxicity Risk Score). SS was measured by a modified version of Medical-Outcome Study-Social Support Survey and grade 3–5 hematological and non-hematological toxicities were captured and graded using CTCAE version 3.0. Patients were categorized into those with poor (SS score ≤ 75) and good SS (score of 76–100). Multivariate polychotomous logistic regression was used to examine the associations between SS and chemotherapy-related toxicity with adjustment for the CARG Toxicity Risk Score. ResultsCompared to patients with good SS, those with poor SS were less likely to have grade 3–5 toxicity, especially for non-hematological toxicity (adjusted OR = 0.52, p = .02). Patients who did not have someone to take them to the doctor “most” or “all of the time” were less likely to have grade 3–5 non-hematological toxicity compared to patients who had someone to take them to the doctor most or all of the time (adjusted OR = 0.32, p = .02). ConclusionOur study showed that patients with poor SS, especially those with less availability of someone to take them to doctors were less likely to have a documented grade 3–5 non-hematological toxicity.